The present invention relates to gas turbine engine components, and in particular, to manufacturing processes for gas turbine engine components. Gas turbine engines use a series of compressors and turbines to pass air through the engine to produce rotational shaft power. Each compressor and turbine will have a plurality of blades and a plurality of vanes, where the rotating blades impart or extract rotational velocity from air directed upon them by the stationary vanes. Each blade and vane will have an airfoil that is shaped to direct airflow through the gas turbine engine. Each blade and vane will also have an outer platform and an inner platform that can be attached to other platforms to form a structure between which airfoils can run.
Each blade and vane can have a plurality of cavities in the airfoil, outer platform, and inner platform. The cavities can either run completely through the airfoil from a first end to a second end, or the cavities can extend a defined distance into either the outer platform or the inner platform. During gas turbine engine operation, the blades and vanes are subjected to extremely high temperatures. The high temperatures can exceed the melting temperature of the alloys used to construct the blade and vane. To prevent damage to the blades and vanes due to the extremely high temperatures, the blades and vanes can be cooled using relatively cooler air that is typically siphoned from a compressor. The cooling air can pass into and through the cavities in the airfoil to cool the airfoil internally. The cooling air can also pass into and through the cavities on the outer platform and the inner platform to cooling the outer platform and the inner platform. The cooling air can be directed onto and through the blades and vanes through a variety of processes, including impingement cooling.
A cavity that runs completely through the airfoil can house a baffle that is designed to facilitate impingement cooling, which increases the cooling of the airfoil. A cavity that extends into the outer platform and inner platform a defined distance can house a cover that is also designed to facilitate impingement cooling, which increases the cooling of the outer platform and the inner platform. Designing and manufacturing baffles and covers is a time-consuming process. Baffles and covers are typically manufactured out of a sheet metal and undergo a tooling process to shape them to fit inside the cavities on the blade or vane. The tooling process typically includes a large number of complicated steps. Due to the complicated nature of the tooling process, it typically takes two years of lead time to manufacture new baffle and cover designs.